Earth Hour in Bolivia: Santa Cruz turned off the lights of its main square for an hour this Saturday

The lights were turned off as a symbolic support of the global Earth Hour 2008 campaign, in order to promote energy saving to fight climate change.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, a 1.5 million inhabitant city located in eastern Bolivia, is one of the three Latin American cities – along with Buenos Aires and Bogota – to join the fight against climate change and global warming, led by the global conservation organization, WWF, under its Earth Hour 2008 campaign.

The lights were turned off as a symbolic support of the global Earth Hour 2008 campaign, in order to promote energy saving to fight climate change.

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, a 1.5 million inhabitant city located in eastern Bolivia, is one of the three Latin American cities - along with Buenos Aires and Bogota - to join the fight against climate change and global warming, led by the global conservation organization, WWF, under its Earth Hour 2008 campaign.

For this reason, on March 29th, between 8 and 9 pm local time, the lights of Santa Cruz de la Sierra's main square "Plaza 24 de Septiembre" were turned off by the Mayor, Mr. Percy Fernández. Also, the main Cathedral, located at this square, joined the movement turning off its lights, as well as other businesses and homes.

The reduction in consumption of energy during the Earth Hour in Santa Cruz, was of 1,35%, compared to the same time on the previous Saturday. Hundreds of people, young and old, came to the main square wearing Earth Hour T-shirts and holding candles, and enjoyed speeches held by the organizers - WWF Bolivia, the Municipal Government of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the Rural Electrification Cooperative and newspaper El Deber, as well as artistic performances such as a choir, a string trio and fire jugglers.

The campaign has generated great expectations among the population. Everybody knew what was going on at the main square, media coverage was huge, with 6 TV channels, 3 newspapers and several radios and webs covering the event. El Deber newspaper, who formally supported the event, published the news on its Sunday cover page and posted the Earth Hour banner and video on its homepage.

The story was also covered by other national newspapers, such as El Nuevo Día and El Mundo). Also, the joint efforts with the Electrification Cooperative and the Municipal Government with WWF are expected to keep on going in the future, for other Earth Hour versions, as well as other specific energy-saving actions.

"Global warming can be understood as the same phenomenon that happens when it’s cold and you get under the covers, and the heat stays there. This is our chance to stop this", said Santa Cruz de la Sierra’s Mayor, Mr. Percy Fernández, during the act.

Earth Hour